Word of the Day (12-19-11)

Good Morning Everyone

Today is Monday December 19, 2011

The word of the day comes from

2 Timothy 4:3

New International Version (NIV)

³ For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.

My Interpretation

My bishop, Bishop Charles H. Doom Jr. posed this question a few weeks ago. If you were arrested for being a Christian, would there be enough evidence to convict you? That is a very profound statement. Nowadays people love the thought of being a Christian as opposed to another religion. It seems safe. It seems normal. In this country, it seems to be the thing to do. The issue that I run across is that EVERYONE states they are a Christian but then turn around and demonstrate otherwise. Now I hate to even have to do this with disclaimers but when you talk about sin, you have to put yourself out there before people get too offended. I have not lived up to everything in the bible, period. There are things in the bible that I have blatantly disregarded since I have been saved. But my unwillingness to get in line at times does not negate the fact that the word of God is true (and what it says about sin, money, love, Jesus, salvation, heaven, God the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, etc) so regardless if I am always in compliance or not has no bearings. Whether I choose to believe what the Word of God says or don’t doesn’t make it anymore or less true. The Word of God isn’t truth because you choose to believe. You choose to believe because it just is…truth.

Make sense? 2Timothy 3:16-17 reads ¹⁶ All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, ¹⁷ so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. 2 Peter 1:21 tells us how the Bible was written. ²¹ For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. God authored the Bible the men of God who names are attached to it were simply scribes. Note takers as the Holy Spirit spoke to them. Revelations 22:18-19 lets us know that what is in the Bible is accurate and final.  ¹⁸ I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. ¹⁹ And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.

Lately however, I have been running into people who say that they are Christians but they don’t believe everything in the Bible because the Bible was written by man. The statement in itself is illogical if we take that stance because EVERYTHING we read is written by man. Newspapers, magazines, internet sites, history books, self help books, etc are all written by man so if we take that stance, we shouldn’t believe ANYTHING we read. The reason those other things don’t make us say we don’t believe it because the Bible challenges where we are in life. It doesn’t condone sin. It doesn’t smile at sin. It doesn’t turn an eye at sin. It attacks it head on and calls it what it is…sin. There have been Sundays where Bishop was preaching on a sin that I was dealing with or struggling with and it cut deep, I mean deep. It was uncomfortable in there I can’t lie to you but I thank God for it because God is showing me through the man of God His love to see me get my act together. What I notice however and this is unfortunate. Do a study one day. The days that your Bishop/Pastor/Overseer talks about sin and the consequences of it (thus says the Lord) you will see a drop in membership. As I’m typing this I know someone will send me an email and ask to be taking off the Word of the Day. When I discuss how God is a healer, a provider, etc I get “great word.” But every time I talk about sin and how God doesn’t like it, I get someone emailing me to get taken off the Word. It used to get to me but I have come to realize that the Word struck a chord. Bishop always says when the Word goes out, there needs to be a response. Now we can respond one of two ways. Either we will take it in and try to change based on what we heard or we will turn a deaf ear, say I don’t believe it and continue to live any kind of way.

I was told by someone that we aren’t born bad. The only reason people do bad things is because they are on drugs or alcohol. That is not what my Bible says. David tells us in Psalm 51:5 ⁵ Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me. We say that God is too loving a God to send anyone to hell. We aren’t reading the same Bible. God loves us too much to let us get away with sin and live our life any kind of way without punishment. God loved Moses but told him he couldn’t enter the promise land because of disobedience. God loved David and called him a man after His own heart yet killed his first born for his sin with Bathsheba. God loved Adam yet kicked him and Eve out of the garden for disobedience. God loves us unconditionally that statement is true but He will not wince at sin. Galatians 6:7 ⁷ Don’t be misled—you cannot mock the justice of God. You will always harvest what you plant. Bishop told us one time. Yes God is a loving God and He won’t send you to hell. You send yourself by the choices you make. God gives you an opportunity to avoid there but we choose to send ourselves there. God is not forcing us to do His will.

We have learned to turn away from anything that challenges us in anyway. We don’t mind hearing from God or the man/woman of God if it pertains to something we like. The moment we talk about or challenge lifestyles nobody wants to hear it. It’s amazing how many Facebook and Twitter accounts have people stating they are Christians yet saying happy Xmas. Do we realize that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus? No Christ was not born on December 25^th that is the day we celebrate the birth. But the fact of the matter is He was born. Christmas is no longer about the welcoming of our Messiah into the world but about gifts and trees and eggnog and mistletoes. If that is what we think of when we think of Christmas then I guess its ok to X out Christ. He isn’t on your mind anyway. But for us who have confessed the faith publicly of the birth, life, crucifixion, burial, death and resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, we can’t write or participate in Xmas because in doing so we are Xing out CHRIST from CHRISTmas and without Christ, what Christmas would we have to celebrate?

Have a wonderful, blessed, productive, stress free day!